Cheapest UK rent guarantor service? What they actually cost, compared
Short answer: There is no single cheapest UK rent guarantor service, because providers do not charge on the same basis. As at August 2026, published prices run from about 6% to about 14% of a year's rent. On a London one-bedroom at £1,740 a month, that spread is roughly £1,200 to £2,880 for the same twelve months.
The headline fee is not the cost. The charging basis is. Below is what each provider publishes on its own site, and what it comes to on a real London rent.
What is a rent guarantor service, and who actually needs one?
A rent guarantor service is a company that stands behind your rent in place of a family member. If the rent is missed, the provider pays the landlord and then recovers the money from you. With most of these products it is not insurance for you, the tenant. It is a debt that moves: the provider settles with the landlord, then comes to you for the money. At least one product covered in this article is arranged through an FCA-regulated insurance intermediary, so read what you are actually buying.
You are likely to need one if you are an international student or a newly arrived professional with no UK credit history; if your income is paid outside the UK or in a currency other than sterling; if you are self-employed with a short trading history; or if the person who would happily guarantee your rent lives abroad. Referencing normally asks for a UK-resident guarantor with UK income above a set multiple of the rent. Ask the agent what multiple applies before you assume you fail it — the answer varies by referencing provider, and it decides whether you need to buy anything at all.
If you already have a UK homeowner ready to sign, you do not need to buy any of this. Go straight to the alternatives further down.
What is Guarantor+ from Zero Deposit?
Guarantor+ — often searched as Guarantor Plus — is a rent guarantee sold by Zero Deposit to letting agents and landlords, not directly to tenants. It is provided by Global Property Ventures Limited (company number 10328435), trading as Zero Deposit, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an insurance intermediary, reference 797026. The published cover is up to 12 months of the tenant's share of the rent, capped at £130,000, plus £10,000 towards legal expenses. Each guarantee runs for 12 months and is renewed annually.
What it costs is not published. There is no tenant price anywhere on the product's site; agents and landlords are asked to book a demo instead (checked 17 August 2026). That is why it does not appear in our price tables below: a product that does not publish a price cannot be compared on price. If an agent offers you Guarantor+, ask two questions before anything is paid — what does it cost, and who is being asked to pay it, you or the landlord? Then compare the answer with the prices that are published.
Why do two guarantor quotes differ by hundreds of pounds?
Because three different charging bases are in use, and they behave very differently on a London rent.
- A band set by your monthly rent. A fixed fee for the band your rent falls into, paid monthly or discounted upfront.
- A flat multiple of rent, once. One month's rent, paid at the start, covering the tenancy.
- A percentage of annual rent, every year. Usually expressed as a number of weeks' rent.
The third is the one that bites in London. A four-week fee on the North East average rent of £781 a month is about £721 a year. The same four-week fee on the London one-bedroom average of £1,740 is about £1,606 — and it falls due again next year (ONS, June 2026). Identical product, identical percentage, more than double the money.
Then there is the question that decides the bill in a shared flat: is the fee charged once for the tenancy, or once per person? Of the three providers below, only one answers that plainly on its own site. Goodlord states that one payment covers all tenants on the agreement. The others price off "your monthly rent" or "the rent you will be paying" without saying, on the page, whether a sharer is assessed on the whole rent or on their own share. In a two-person flat that is the difference between one fee and two. Get the answer in writing before you pay.
What do the main UK providers charge?
Prices below are as published on each provider's own site, checked 17 August 2026. Guarantor pricing changes frequently — check current terms directly with the provider before you commit to anything. The market is also consolidating: Housing Hand has acquired UK Guarantor, in its own words, so two of the names you will meet are now one company.
| Provider | What you pay | Charged per | Renewal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Hand | Banded fee set by "your monthly rent", paid as a 12-month subscription or a discounted upfront sum, plus a £20 onboarding fee | Banded on "your monthly rent"; the site does not state how the band is set for sharers | 12-month minimum subscription, even on a shorter tenancy |
| Goodlord Guarantor | A one-off payment equivalent to one month's rent | Per tenancy — covers all tenants on the agreement | None stated; covers the tenancy for up to three years |
| RentGuarantor | An annual fee equivalent to 3–4 weeks' rent, from £249, plus a £20 application fee | "The rent you will be paying" | Renewed annually for the first three years |
We have left two products out. UK Guarantor — now a Housing Hand company — publishes only that "our fee starts at £295, with the exact amount dependent on the rent you pay": no charging basis and no renewal terms. Guarantor+ from Zero Deposit publishes no tenant price at all, as set out above. Neither can be compared on price, and a row made of unknowns is not a comparison.
What does that cost on a real London rent?
Take the ONS average London one-bedroom rent for June 2026: £1,740 a month, or £20,880 a year. The figures below assume one tenant carrying the whole rent.
| Product | Year-one cost at £1,740 pcm | As a share of annual rent | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing Hand — student band £1,701–£1,900 | £2,006 upfront, or £176 × 12 = £2,112 | 9.6% – 10.1% | Plus £20 onboarding |
| Housing Hand — working professional, same band | £2,736 upfront, or £240 × 12 = £2,880 | 13.1% – 13.8% | Plus £20 onboarding |
| Goodlord Guarantor | £1,740, once | 8.3% | Covers the tenancy for up to three years, so year two and year three cost nothing further |
| RentGuarantor | approx. £1,205 – £1,606 | 5.8% – 7.7% | Plus £20 application fee; payable again each year for the first three years |
| Housing Hand via a university scheme | 5% of "your annual tenancy agreement" upfront, or 5.5% over 12 instalments, minimum £295 | Published as a percentage, not as a cash figure — we have not converted it, because the base is described only as "your annual tenancy agreement" | University of London Housing Services partner rate, for students of subscribing institutions, on tenancies of 6–12 months; longer tenancies need the guarantee renewed when it expires |
Two things fall straight out of that table. Over three years, the one-off product at £1,740 costs less than the annual product that looked cheaper in year one. And where a university scheme exists, the same provider publishes a separate rate at a much lower percentage than its open-market pricing — worth a phone call before you buy anything, once you have asked what the percentage is charged on. See our student lettings page and our 2026 guide for international students.
Can I pay rent in advance instead?
Not as a substitute for a guarantor. Since 1 May 2026 the duty sits on the landlord and the agent, not on you. Section 9 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 makes a payment of rent a prohibited payment where it is payable before an assured tenancy is entered into, and inserts a new section 5A into the Tenant Fees Act 2019 so that a landlord or agent must not invite or encourage such a payment. Section 8 voids the terms of an assured tenancy so far as they provide for rent to be due in advance. What survives is the initial rent: government guidance published 6 November 2025 states that once the agreement is signed a landlord may ask for up to one month's rent (or 28 days for shorter rent periods) before the tenancy begins, and that councils can require repayment of a prohibited payment and impose civil penalties of up to £5,000.
That closed the route many overseas tenants used to rely on — six or twelve months paid up front in place of a guarantor. It is a large part of why guarantor products are being marketed so hard this year. If your family is overseas, our China Desk can talk this through in Mandarin or Cantonese.
What are the alternatives to paying for a guarantor?
A UK homeowner guarantor. Free. Usually a parent, a sibling or an employer. If one is available and passes referencing, buy nothing.
A university scheme. Where one exists, it is priced separately from the open market at a lower percentage, as the table shows. Ask what the percentage is charged on.
A larger deposit. Tempting, and capped. A tenancy deposit cannot exceed five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks' rent where it is £50,000 or more (Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 1, paragraph 2). On £1,740 a month that is about £2,008. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 did not change that cap. A bigger deposit is not a lawful way round a guarantee.
A deposit replacement. Reposit and flatfair replace the cash deposit. They are not a guarantee of the rent and no landlord should read them as one.
We won't tell a tenant they need a paid guarantor when the file does not call for one. If the referencing passes on income alone, we say so, and the money stays in your pocket.
What should a landlord look for in a guarantee?
If you are the landlord assessing a tenant who arrives with a professional guarantor, four questions decide whether that guarantee is worth anything.
What is covered, and to what limit? Guarantor+ publishes cover of up to 12 months of the tenant's share of the rent, capped at £130,000, plus £10,000 towards legal expenses. Read the equivalent number on whatever product is offered.
Guarantee or insurance, and who is regulated? Guarantor+ is provided by Global Property Ventures Limited (company number 10328435), trading as Zero Deposit, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as an insurance intermediary under reference 797026. Check the entity, not the brand.
What happens at renewal? A guarantee written for 12 months has to be renewed, and it lapses if the tenant stops paying for it. A one-off product that covers the whole tenancy does not. That distinction decides whether you still have cover in month fourteen.
What happens on death? Section 19 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 inserts sections 16N and 16P into the Housing Act 1988. Section 16N applies where "an individual (the 'guarantor') is a party to an arrangement" guaranteeing the tenant's rent, and where the guarantor became a party on or after 1 May 2026; the guarantee is then of no effect so far as it guarantees rent for the period beginning with the tenant's death. Read the death and termination clauses of any commercial product on their own wording, and take advice on them.
One more, which catches people out: the advertised rent is the ceiling. Section 56 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 requires the rent to be stated and bans rental bidding. A tenant with a guarantor cannot offer above the asking rent to strengthen their case, and you cannot accept it if they do.
If you are weighing a guaranteed applicant, or you are a tenant trying to work out which of these products fits, talk to our lettings team on +44 20 3865 1500 or info@harveywjames.com. If the conversation is easier in Mandarin or Cantonese, the China Desk answers in both, and our guarantor services page sets out how we assess a guarantee. Current London rent figures are tracked in our London rent review.
Sources
- Housing Hand, "How much will it cost me?" — full pricing tables for students and working professionals, banded under the heading "Your monthly rent"; £1,701–£1,900 band: students £176/month or £2,006 upfront, working professionals £240/month or £2,736 upfront. https://housinghand.com/help-and-advice/how-much-will-it-cost-me (re-checked 17 August 2026)
- Housing Hand, guarantor service — "you will be asked to pay a small onboarding fee of £20"; "We offer 12-month contracts for our payments at this time. This means that if your contract is 10 months long, you would still have subscribed to pay Housing Hand 12 payments." https://housinghand.com/guarantor-service/ (re-checked 17 August 2026)
- Goodlord, "Professional Guarantor Service" — "a one-off, upfront payment (equivalent to one month's rent), which will cover your whole tenancy for up to three years"; "One payment covers all tenants on the tenancy". https://www.goodlord.com/tenant-solutions/professional-guarantor-service (re-checked 17 August 2026)
- RentGuarantor, "How much does the Rent Guarantor service cost?" — from £249, "the equivalent of 3-4 weeks rent, payable as a one-off annual fee at the beginning of your tenancy for the first three years". https://faq.rentguarantor.com/knowledge/how-much-does-the-rent-guarantor-service-cost (re-checked 17 August 2026)
- RentGuarantor — "a one-off £20 application fee"; "We calculate your annual fee based on the rent you will be paying". https://www.rentguarantor.com/ (re-checked 17 August 2026)
- UK Guarantor — "Our fee starts at £295, with the exact amount dependent on the rent you pay."; "Housing Hand has acquired UK Guarantor". No charging basis or renewal terms published on the site. https://ukguarantor.com/ (re-checked 17 August 2026)
- Zero Deposit, Guarantor+ — no price published, demo booking only; cover of up to 12 months' tenant share of the rent, up to £130,000, plus £10,000 towards legal expenses; "Each guarantee is valid for 12 months" and renewed annually; Global Property Ventures Limited (company number 10328435), FCA reference 797026. https://www.zerodeposit.com/guarantorplus/ (re-checked 17 August 2026)
- University of London Housing Services, "Guarantors" — Housing Hand partner rate of "5% if you pay the fee upfront, or 5.5% if you pay in 12 monthly instalments of your annual tenancy agreement", minimum fee £295, for a guarantor of 6 to 12 months, with renewal required on longer tenancies. https://housing.london.ac.uk/find-accommodation/guarantors (re-checked 17 August 2026)
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 8 (prohibition of rent in advance after lease entered into, except initial rent) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/26/section/8
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 9 (prohibition of rent in advance before lease entered into; inserts section 5A into the Tenant Fees Act 2019) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/26/section/9
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 19 (guarantor not liable for rent payable after tenant's death; inserts sections 16N and 16P into the Housing Act 1988; section 16N(1)(a) applies where "an individual (the 'guarantor') is a party to an arrangement") https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/26/section/19
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 56 (requirement to state rent and to avoid rental bidding) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/26/section/56
- Tenant Fees Act 2019, Schedule 1, paragraph 2 (deposit cap: five weeks' rent where annual rent is under £50,000, six weeks' where £50,000 or more) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/4/schedule/1
- MHCLG, "Guide to the Renters' Rights Act", published 6 November 2025 — rent in advance, repayment powers, civil penalties of up to £5,000. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act
- Office for National Statistics, Price Index of Private Rents, June 2026 print (released 22 July 2026). London average one-bedroom rent £1,740; North East average rent £781. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.